EGYPT'S POLITICS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 135, 10 June 1942, Page 4

EGYPT'S POLITICS

WARNING TO FAROUK

NO NILE FIFTH COLUMN

(By PERTINAX)

WASHINGTON, April 20

The decision taken by Mustapha Nahas Pasha, the Prime Minister of Egypt, to have Aly Maher Pasha placed under arrest, at the very moment General Erwin Rommel started another attack on the British, was a blow struck at the fifth column in Egypt and also a warning aimed at King Farouk.

Around Aly Maher congregated the men who wanted to avail themselves of the present war to shake off what remains of British control. And the Pasha stood very close to the Palace. For many years he had been Private Secretary to the King and many court officials were appointed by him. To what length the faction hostile to Great Britain is ready to go in order to carry out its purpose and to what extent it can rely on King Farouk's approval, remains a matter of speculation.

But the harsh fact is there that, of all the Counsellors of the Crown at work against the British connection, Aly Maher has long been singled out as the most influential and the most dangerous by the delegates of the British Cabinet on the spot, we shall learn soon whether the measure enforced means that an end has been put, once for all, to the intrigues directed against the British Alliance or whether it must be seen nntion 6 J'° ginning of a repressive action of a more serious nature.

Aly Maher And King Farouk

ioto Maher was Prime Minister in 1939, when the European war broke out He did not hold office because of the support of his political friends the so-called Constitutional Liberals' These were not more than a handful in Parliament. But the Chamber had been returned on an electoral h W deliberately drafted to keep out the Wafd, the efficiently-organised .National party which is wont to sweep the country clear of its rivals whenever uncurbed from above. Maher controlled the country merely on account of Royal favour, which had made of his own brother the President of the Assembly.

In intimate agreement with King Farouk, he conducted the foreign policy of the country. The Treaty of Alliance between the United Kingdom and Egypt of August 21, 1936 makes it compulsory for the Cairo Government to furnish "all the facilities and assistance in its power" to Britain in the event of war. Those provisions were fulfilled. The Ministers of the Axis Powers were turned out. However, the line was rigidly drawn to exclude a declaration of war.

The Co-Intriguera Even when Egyptian territory was invaded and Egyptian cities were bombed, no reprisals were resorted to. But here is the serious point. Last year, General Azim-el-Masri, the head of the Egyptian General Staff, who had been deprived of his post on British request was suddenly gaoled. He was suspected of having supplied the Italians with military information. He was an associate of Aly Maher. Latelv a forced residence was assigned to nim in a remote place. Now. the same kind of treatment is beine meted out to the former Minister. 1 he net has been tightened.

a is worth recording Aly Maher was known to be on very friendly terms with the representative of Uie Vichy Government, Jean Pozzi. The latter was handed his passport at the end of 1941. He had always boasted that if his Government was ever asked to recall him as the outcome of British pressure he would continue to live in Cairo as a private citizen. He trusted that exalted protectors would not fail him. He was disappointed. As he tried to gain time and, from day to day, kept postponing his departure armed guards suddenly intervened and shipped him off to Ankara

British Patience Exhausted

The still unknown part of the story concerns the present relationship of King Farouk and Nahas Pasha In the past, Nahas often clashed, on constitutional grounds with King Farouk's predecessor' King Fuad, although he was ready to join hands with him against the British overlord. But the present monarch enjoys prestige among the masses on a scale denied to his father. He is of amiable dispositi?n. He is truly the first national King. He has dropped the Turkish language and expresses himself in Arabic. Farouk knows how to make himself a favourite with the army, the Imans, the students of El Azar. He lavishly bestows gifts upon them all. More than any one ever did. he subsidises the pilgrimage to Mecca. Nahas Pasha must reckon with the King. He has been only too eager to seize the opportunity of getting rid of his old opponent, Maher. Eventually, would he turn against the Sovereign? In any event, British not Put up to-day with Fifth Columnists of the Nile. Too many deadly enemies are on the move.—Auckland Star and N.A.N.A.